Abby and Andy were Labrador Retrievers of mine who have since passed away. I started this blog to chronicle their lives.
Now that I've told their stories, I will post whatever pops into my head.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Andy's Second Chance

One evening, I went to my mom’s to pick up the babies. I would give Andy one more chance at staying in my condo. I didn’t need to push them to get in my car. All it took was the magic words—bye-bye. Andy, sitting behind my mom on the couch, hurdled over the arm-rest and ran to the door. Abby soon followed behind him. It didn’t take long for me to get home. I was about a 10 minute drive from my mom’s. In the parking lot, the babies patiently waited while I put their leashes on them. I never let them go off-leash, especially in a high-traffic area.

We hung out in my place for a while. I knew I had to take them out one more time before bed. I asked them if they wanted to go ‘walk’. They enhusiastically ran to the door. Abby let me put the leash on her first. Andy figited a little. I got the leash on him. I opened the door, turned right, went all the way down the hall and out the north end of the building. We would go through a gate, turn right and head towards a park across the street.

This park is over 200 years old. It was one of the ‘Four Corners’ at the corners of Raleigh when it was founded. The city was a square mile. These parks were placed at the corners. Two of them remain to this day. The others at the north end of what is now downtown have been covered over with government buildings. I always loved going through the park with the babies. There was a circular sidewalk with a circumference of around 220 yards. We would go all the way around it, going in a counterclockwise direction. The babies would soon find their spots to go to the bathroom. Dogs will often pick a spot and keep using it and not go anywhere else.

So far, so good. Bedtime approached and the moment of truth had arrived. I asked them if they wanted to go nighty. I’m not sure if I had to show them where the bed was. Regardless, it did not take them long to figure out where the bed was. They would soon know what direction to go when I asked them to go nighty.

Andy reached to loft first. He always had to run in front of us. He didn’t stop on the rug to pee. He jumped in the bed and took his position at the head of the bed right beside me. Abby slept at the foot of the bed on the same side as Andy. We went to bed. There were no incidents that night. Andy got to stay.